" ***stack smashing detected***:  terminated" on choosing an object
Well, I've learned much. I wanted to report a bug, and on the website, one of the suggestions was to download the newest version before reporting a bug, so I downloaded 2.79.7. When I opened my project and selected an object, Blender still crashed, but it rewarded me with new information...as I remember, the information said something about sRBG display not supported, defaulting to "NONE.", and I needed to check my User Preferences file. I looked through the User Preferences thoroughly several times, but found nothing relating to sRBG or any choices regarding that. So I downloaded 2.78c, which still supported sRBG, evidently, because when I selected an object, it didn't crash.
Joel Gomes da Silva was correct with his answer about using older versions, but curiosity and stubbornness prevailed, and I learned a lot. Thank you Joel!